What could be simpler! The great thirteenth-century Zen philosopher Dogen reduces the sum of the journey on the Way to a short essay in his enormous Shobogenzo entitled “The Eight Awarenesses of Great People.” The list of awarenesses is presented not as moral precepts but those characteristics Buddhas (“great people”) have observed and adhered to during their lives. The list is what Dogen describes as Shakyamuni’s last teaching. Here is the list:
1. Having few desires.
2. Being content.
3. Enjoying quietude.
4. Diligence.
5. Unfailing recollection.
6. Cultivating meditation concentration
7. Cultivating wisdom.
8. Not engaging in vain talk.
These points are almost self-explanatory, welcoming to one who seeks simplicity and wisdom, solitude, tranquility and self-awareness. Having few desires frees the self from interdependence and the affliction of chasing after illusions and encumbrances. To be content is to be in the state of having few desires. To be satisfied with little or with what has minimally presented itself promotes the goal of desirelessness. Contentment resists the insistence that things go the way we want them to go. Contentment allows us to tolerate the vicissitudes of life, now and in the future.
We cannot enjoy quietude with our mind pursuing what is happening about such-and-such. Quietude is contentment and simplicity, regardless of what is happening “out there.” Quietude must be a core within the mind. We tend to underestimate the effect of images, sounds, and provocations from the world of red dust. Quietude enables progress enabling the embrace of the next awareness.
Diligence is persistence in following the Way, the path to enlightenment. Diligence also helps us embrace all of the awarenesses. Dogen calls it the ongoing cultivation of virtue. Unfailing recollection refers to mindfulness and persevering in right mindfulness. In itself, mindfulness is an awareness but not a final state or goal, rather an ongoing state. Thus, we are always cultivating meditation concentration, always cultivating mindfulness. This state of mindfulness, expressed in meditation but always present as a context to our mind, is strengthened by our pursuits of simplicity, contentment, quietude, and diligence, which are methods, transformed from ends to means as we advance in mindfulness, as cultivated wisdom grows in our hearts. Of course, it becomes obvious that there is no point, no advantage, indeed a great disadvantage, to engage in vain talk. We are polite, tactful, empathetic, but also aware of how vain talk can steal our concentration.
The eight awarenesses are universal if we are pursuing a spiritual path, of any tradition, in fact, or of none. The awarenesses are integral components to psychology, ethics, philosophy, or plain daily life. The recommendation of awarenesses is for anyone a prerequisite to meaningful advancement. The awarenesses are both a starting-point and a terminus, always on a continuum of daily life and the trajectory of a lifetime.